


Seventeen Types Of Rice

by tonylovedthestarstoofondly



Series: Stars' Tumblr Fills 2019 [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: DUM-E's name is spelled wrong and that irritates me, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, Tony Takes DUM-E Shopping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-07 13:37:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18235628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonylovedthestarstoofondly/pseuds/tonylovedthestarstoofondly
Summary: Taking clumsy robots to grocery stores may end up being a good thing.





	Seventeen Types Of Rice

**Author's Note:**

> For makopanda on the Stark Industries United Server!

You know, sometimes Steve wishes his best friend wasn’t such a diva.

He did love Bucky’s cooking, and he was grateful he did all the cooking, but now Steve was standing in the middle of a grocery store at 3 am because Bucky had to have a specific type of rice for a dish he was going to try. Not that it wouldn’t turn out great, but he found it hard to think about that when he was staring at seventeen types of rice that all looked identical to him other than a millimeter difference that apparently separated ‘short’ and ‘long’ rice.

And of course, the specific rice Bucky had to have was on the very highest shelf, made for the gargantuan people that had clearly sold their souls to the fae for the extra inches.

Assholes.

This was fine, if he just positioned his cart over here, and then balanced his foot there and stretched his hand..

“DUMMY DON’T TOUCH THAT!” a voice said from around the corner and Steve’s foot slipped as he tried to twist in alarm, sending him crashing down. He blinked dazedly up as the sound of hasty footsteps and squeaky wheels approached and then someone appeared in Steve’s line of view.

“You’re pretty,” he mumbled, registering the blush on the other guys face. “Ah, not dead?”

“Ah…no,” he said, “Let’s get you up. No Dummy, you hold the cart, we don’t wanna break the man’s arm if you try pulling him up. There we go.”

“I can get up,” Steve grumpily said, hauling himself out of the cart basket. “You shouldn’t call your friends dumm-that….is a robot.”

The robot in question beeped and clicked at him, moving its camera? claw? Closer to his face and making another odd clicking sound.

“Meet dummy!” the man said, bouncing on his heels. “He’s ridiculous, and doesn’t understand that squeezing tomatoes will cause them to burst.”

Indeed, the man was covered in what looked like tomato guts, staining the large hoodie he was wearing.

“Still mean, to call a robot Dummy.” Steve said cautiously.

“It’s technically D U M dash E.” he sighed, “I was drunk when he was born, and he decided to pick the first word he heard as his name. Sorry about startling you, I didn’t think that anyone other than the poor cashiers would be here.”

“My roommate wants to try a dish, and he needs a specific rice or else he’ll dramatically lie on the couch and moan about betrayal and pretend he’s talking about soap operas.” Steve said with a sigh, tilting his head back and starting again at the stupid rice above him. He was not going to address the drinking comment, wasn’t really his business after all.

“Ah, mine gives me puppy eyes of sadness if I don’t eat something other than granola bars and coffee so therefore, shopping.” he said, waving around an honest to god shopping list. “And the last time I left DUM-E alone in my room, he smashed the coffee-maker.” The robot in question beeped, and somehow managed to sound indignant. “You did not do it on accident, I know Rhodey put you up to it!”

“I take it you haven’t been shopping often?” Steve said, reluctantly charmed.

“Did the tomato pieces give that away?” the stranger said wryly, making Steve laugh.

“A little bit.” Steve said in amusement.

“Alright handsome, let’s make a deal.” he said mischievously, and Steve flushed slightly at the unexpected endearment. “DUM-E will get down your friends rice, and then you help me find ‘fresh yeast’ along with where they moved the cranberry sauce and the dried fruit because I swear the last time I was here they were in one place but I can’t find it now.”

“They always move that around, I don’t understand why.” Steve sighed, “I’ll show you, I’ve been here enough times chasing after Bucky’s ‘potato dumpling whitener’ or some other random thing.”

The stranger smiled widely, and Steve quietly thought ‘I’m screwed’ to himself as he stuck out his hand.

“Steve.”

“Tony.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr at tonylovedthestarstoofondly if you want to say hi or tell me your favorite color!  
> Dont forget to drink water and stretch!


End file.
